National Domestic Violence Awareness Project

My Tribe

joeyclift:

I’m an enrolled member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe (aboriginal land is southern Washington State). What enrolled means is that I’m “on the books” for a federally recognized tribe. I have a tribal ID card, a role number and etc so I am a recognized member of a tribal nation in the same way that you are a citizen of a country. 

There are at this point, over 670 tribes that are officially recognized by the federal government (and a ton more at the state level and a bunch more that aren’t recognized). We all have our own cultures, languages and etc and the difference from one tribe to another could be as big as the cultural differences between the United Kingdom and Egypt.

One of the things that I love about tribal governments is that for the most part, they all have flags that have a lot of cultural importance to them. This is my tribe’s flag. It has a salmon on it in a Pacific Northwest Native art style because like many Pac NW tribes, we’re a fishing people!